


A Joy Forever

by Ysabetwordsmith



Series: Frankenstein's Family [4]
Category: Frankenstein & Related Fandoms, Frankenstein (1931), Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe - Family, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Trans, Angst, Barter, Beautiful, Blood and Gore, Body Dysphoria, Canon Disabled Character, Class Differences, Class Issues, Classics, Clothing, Disability, Families of Choice, Family, Family Dynamics, Family Secrets, Feminist Themes, Friendship/Love, Gender Dysphoria, Gender Identity, Gender Issues, Genderbending, Gothic, Healing, Human Biology, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Medieval Medicine, No Sex, Other, Physical Disability, Platonic Romance, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Science Boyfriends, Science Family, Science Fiction, Seasonal, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 23:16:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Victor and Igor go to the village in search of supplies, including warmer clothes for Igor.  An accident in the brewer's shop requires both of their assistance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Joy Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [an audience poll](http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3091570.html), this poem is the free epic from the January 7, 2014 fishbowl reaching the $200 goal. It came out of the November 2013 Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from Dreamwidth user Perfectworry. It also fills the "beauty" square in [my 10-6-13 card](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9484750.html) for the Origfic Bingo fest.

After Christmas,  
Victor encouraged Igor  
to fold up his summer clothes  
and store them in the cedar chest  
along with Victor's own things.

They lifted up the lid of the bench seat,  
and Victor sanded the inside of it   
to bring up the fresh, sweet scent  
while Igor folded their clothes.  
Then they lined the chest with linen.

Igor actually had a good wardrobe --   
enough shirts that he could wear one a day  
for a week without needing to do laundry,  
all of fine white cloth, some embroidered  
white-on-white, one in color, and one  
stitched with deep green ribbon at the seams.  
He had a vest of good brown broadcloth  
but not a single sweater.

"These are beautiful," Victor said,  
admiring the delicate stitches  
and eye-catching design work  
as they put away the lightweight clothes.  
"Thank you," Igor said. "You pay me  
well enough to afford some nice things."

"Then I wonder why you have no sweaters,"  
Victor said. "I should think you'd want them  
for sake of staying warmer."

Igor sighed. "I can buy fabric and sew shirts,  
but I don't know how to knit," he said.  
"It's difficult to find anyone willing and able  
to make clothes to fit my back."

Victor could see how the large hump  
would complicate fitting anything.  
"I'm sorry, Igor," he said. "I can't knit either.   
My mother tried to teach me, but  
it just made me feel girlish and ridiculous.  
Now I wish I had paid more attention."

"It doesn't matter," Igor said.  
"No, I suppose not," Victor agreed.  
"We can at least go down to the village  
and buy enough wool to make you  
some warmer trousers and a coat."

When the blizzard ended,  
they bundled Adam into a wool blanket  
and headed into the village.

Adam squalled at the cold,  
showing off his two new teeth.  
Then he became fascinated  
with the shell buttons on Victor's shirt,  
trying to pry them off to play with.  
"You are such a joy," Victor said to him.

They bought supplies for the kitchen  
and found a bolt of lovely charcoal wool.  
Igor frowned over the price.  
"I'll pay for it," Victor said gently,  
"and you can make some things for me   
along with your own."  
"All right," Igor agreed.

They really needed to have that talk  
about work and money and family,  
because Igor may have started out  
as Victor's hired man, but that   
wasn't how Victor thought of him anymore.

They moved on, with Igor carrying Adam  
and bouncing the baby on his hip.  
Adam liked bounces enough to stop fussing.  
Igor paused to look over the brewer's wares,  
while Victor moved ahead to the blacksmith  
who was really quite clever with hearth tools.  
Victor had his eye on a toasting fork.

Something went _bang!_  
and Victor whirled in search of his family.  
"Victor!" shouted Igor. "Over here!"

Victor ran to his side,  
skidding on the snowy path.

Igor leaned over Dénes the brewer,  
one hand clamped over a large gash  
on the man's left forearm and the other  
gripping a pressure point higher up.  
Smaller nicks and scratches  
peppered the brewer's face.

The brewer's wife Dorottya held Adam,  
who didn't like strangers this month,  
but shushing him kept her distracted  
and that was a stroke of brilliance.

Victor knelt beside the dazed brewer,  
heedless of the spreading pool of blood.  
"What happened?" he asked Igor.

"One of the bottles exploded,  
glass everywhere," Igor said.  
"This big cut is the worst of it, though,  
and nobody else seems to be hurt."  
Fortunately the brewer's leather apron  
had protected most of his body from flying shards.

"Thank God for small mercies,"  
said Victor. "Show me."  
Igor shifted his hand toward the wrist,  
pressing on the veins there,  
so that Victor could assess the damage.  
Muscle gaped open, along with a peek  
of pink-and-white bone at the bottom.  
"Oh, that's going to take some work to fix."

Victor pressed his handkerchief over the wound  
and said to Igor, "Hold that. Keep it elevated."  
Igor shifted his grip to obey.

A crowd was gathering around them,  
but Victor didn't care about that.  
To him, gawkers were just workers  
waiting to be sent on errands.

He pointed at the nearest women in turn.  
"Katalin, I need clean cloths and hot water.  
Ilona, clear the table and throw a drape over it.  
Anne, find three long sewing needles and   
have the blacksmith bend them into half-circles.  
Zsófia, get me thread, silk if you can find some,  
I don't care if you have to pick it out of someone's ribbon."

Abruptly Adam stopped crying.  
Victor glanced over his shoulder to see why,   
and found that Dorottya had opened  
her cutwork blouse to give him her breast.  
It wasn't the bottle that Adam was used to,  
but he figured out there was food in it.

As soon as the table was covered,  
Victor turned to the men.  
"Bálint, Gyuri, help us lift him up,"  
Victor said, and they fell into place,  
hoisting the victim onto the table.

The brewer groaned,   
coming out of his daze  
enough to protest the treatment.

"Dénes, listen to me," Victor said.  
"This is going to hurt for a while,  
and then you'll be fine.   
Try to hold still for us."

Imre the blacksmith came in  
with the required sewing needles.  
"You'll need someone to keep him steady,"  
he said, taking a grip on the brewer's shoulders.  
"I've done this before. I was a soldier once."

"Excellent," Victor said.  
"That will help a great deal.  
The less he moves, the better his chance  
to keep full use of that arm."

The other supplies had arrived,  
and someone had shooed away  
the idle gawkers in the crowd.  
Igor and Victor cleaned away the blood  
and set about closing the deep wound.

They fell into the comfortable teamwork  
that they had first learned in Victor's lab,  
and it was _so_ much easier to fix things  
with four hands instead of only two.  
Igor made the tiniest stitches and then  
matched up edges for Victor to do the larger ones.

Victor couldn't help admiring the subtle play   
of muscle and tendon as they worked,   
murmuring the names in Latin.  
Igor flashed a grin at him. To them,  
the human body was a thing of beauty.

Dénes muffled his cries as best he could,  
and Igor soothed him with gentle words  
to take his mind off the pain.

At last the long gash was closed  
with a line of neat stitches.  
While Victor slathered it with salve   
and wrapped it in layers of bandage,  
Igor went over the face very carefully,   
picking out all of the glass splinters and   
spreading more salve over the small cuts.

Afterwards, several of the men  
carried Dénes up to his bed,  
and his family listened closely  
while Victor explained how to care for him.  
"I'll come back to check on him periodically,"  
the doctor finished.

"We haven't much money,"  
Dorottya said hesitantly.

Oh. Right.   
There was the matter  
of payment to discuss.

Victor's tired brain  
managed to shift gears.  
"Then what do you have?" he asked.  
"I'm as comfortable taking barter as coin."

"We have beer and birch soda," she said.  
"My brother is a woodcutter; I'm sure  
he'd be willing to share something --"  
"Splendid," Igor said, clapping his hands.   
"We can use plenty of firewood."

"Knitting," Victor suggested.  
"Igor needs sweaters."  
"I can knit," Dorottya said.  
"I'll need to measure him for size ...   
and, ah, you may want to change anyway."

Victor looked at their messy clothes.  
The blood didn't show much   
on their dark vests and trousers,  
but the white shirts were largely red.  
"It's a shame about the stains," he said.

"That blood will never come out,"  
Igor agreed. "Ah well, I can probably  
still find some walnuts under the snow.  
If you like, I'll dye these shirts brown  
and we can wear them that way."

"I brought spare clothes for both of you,"  
Bálint said. The ones he offered   
to Victor seemed like a good fit.   
The shirt for Igor flapped like a tent  
but at least it would go over his warped back.

"Bless you," Victor said.  
He washed and changed quickly,  
taking Adam to free Dorottya's hands  
so that she could measure Igor.

"Can you not simply guess?"  
Igor grumbled as she moved about  
with a length of knotted string,  
self-conscious as always about his body.

"No. You have returned my joy to me,  
so I want to do a good job for you,"  
Dorottya said to Igor with a stern look,   
her hands light and careful in their work.  
"Stand still for me, and I'll be done the sooner."

She didn't seem bothered about his shape,  
only the pattern required to cover it.  
Igor never really relaxed, but   
he did stop actively fussing.

Finally Victor and Igor managed to head home,  
along with Adam who had fallen asleep.  
"Well, you wanted to open your practice here,"  
Igor said as they trudged up to the bedroom.  
"We certainly made a memorable start on it."

"That we did," Victor said.  
The bedroom was frigid,  
so he stirred up the fire.  
"You know ... it would be warmer  
if we pushed the beds together  
and shared the blankets."

Igor gave him a long, thoughtful look.  
Their Christmas cuddle had been  
inspired by necessity, but both of them  
had deeply enjoyed the contact.  
"All right," he said. "Let's do that."

So they remade two beds into one  
and snuggled up together,  
with Adam tucked safely in his cradle  
on Igor's side of the bed.

Over the next two weeks,  
they returned to the village several times  
to check on Dénes as he healed.  
His left hand remained weak, but   
at least he could move all his fingers.  
Victor picked out the stitches  
and Igor demonstrated a few exercises  
to get the hand back in working order.

A load of firewood had already  
been delivered to the castle,  
with the promise of more to come.  
It made their home a lot more homelike.

Dorottya had portioned out the knitting  
among her friends, so Igor now owned  
a v-necked ash-gray pullover sweater,  
a lush brown cardigan with antler buttons  
and a sleek black vest whose silver buttons  
Victor had secretly contributed.

Igor smiled as he put them into the dresser  
along with his heavy winter shirts  
and the first pair of woolen trousers he'd made.

Now Igor could dress comfortably in layers  
with his shirts and vests and sweaters  
to keep him warm in the cold weather.  
He stroked his long gray sleeve  
which Dorottya had decorated with cableknit  
in the distinctive four-strand braid of this locale.

"This is so pretty," Igor said.   
"I've often wondered why women   
use so many different designs, though.  
It must take a lot longer to make things this way."

Victor looked at the gorgeous sweater  
and the elegant carvings on Adam's cradle  
as he remembered the hidden wonders   
within every human body.

"Beauty brings its own reward,"  
he said. "It is a joy forever."

Igor twined his fingers with Victor's,  
admiring the grace of their healing hands.  
"Yes," he said. "That it is."

**Author's Note:**

>  _[A thing of beauty is a joy forever](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/beauty)_. Prov. Beautiful things give pleasure that lasts even longer than the beautiful things themselves. (This is a line from John Keats's poem "Endymion." Also a thing of beauty and a joy forever, used to describe something beautiful in lofty terms, often ironically.)
> 
> A [cedar chest](http://cedaroil.com/faq-did-you-know/history-of-the-cedar-chest/) is a traditional way of [protecting clothes](http://www.ravefabricare.com/true-quality-cleaning/2010/12/29/protecting-your-fine-clothes-with-cedar-the-double-edged-sword.aspx). A [bench seat](http://www.bargwoodworks.com/Cedar-Chest-Bench-Seat-cedar-chest-bench-seat.htm) provides both a storage unit and a place to sit.
> 
> Adam is about [seven months old](http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a724/your-seven-month-olds-development) in this poem.
> 
> [Bottle bombs](http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Can_beer_bottles_explode%3F) are a hazard of brewing, and can [injure people](http://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2008/08/liquor_store_employee_injured.html).
> 
> [Women's blouses](http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2011/11/costume-of-kalocsa-bacs-kiskun-county.html) may be embroidered white-on-white with cutwork. Men's shirts are usually solid. [Walnut trees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans) produce nuts whose outer hull turns soft and brown.
> 
> [Carpathian walnuts](http://www.uidaho.edu/extension/forestry/content/products/~/media/Files/Extension/Forestry/Forest%20Products/Alternative%20Products/Carpathian%20walnut.ashx) grow in central Europe. Walnut hulls make an [excellent deep brown dye](http://home.onemain.com/~crowland/Pages/Walnut.html).
> 
> _[Tracht](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracht)_ refers to the traditional folk garb of German-speaking countries, and is typical of the diverse and colorful dress of central Europe. [Trachten sweaters](http://www.oktoberfest-dirndl-shop.co.uk/men/trachten-sweater) are part of historic clothing in Germany and other parts of central Europe. There are [patterns for knitting them](http://us.schachenmayr.com/publications/inspiration-003-traditional-styles-trachten-wool). See a [brown cableknit cardigan with antler buttons](http://www.oktoberfest-dirndl-shop.co.uk/men/trachten-sweater/4328/trachten-strickjacke-marius-mokka-linkslinks) and a [plain black vest with antler buttons](http://www.oktoberfest-dirndl-shop.co.uk/men/trachten-sweater/2396/german-folk-waistcoat-jonas-anthracite) (where Igor's has silver buttons). Local fashions vary; I decided that one distinctive motif of this village is a [4-strand cableknit](http://leftinstitches.blogspot.com/2005/10/four-strand-braided-cable.html).
> 
> [Sleeping together](http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1970427.html) is a form of nonsexual intimacy.


End file.
